PARENT SESSION
WP4 - Exposure and Analysis of Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs)
Chair: Priest, Benjamin¹, ¹ Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Andover, MA
2:10 PM to 5:30 PM - Wednesday, 20 November 2002
Room Ballroom F

(606) Determination of TBBPA (a brominated flame-retardant) in Lake Ontario sediment.

Newson, Susan^*,1,2, Alaee, Mehran², Solomon, Keith¹, ¹ University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada² National Water Research Institute, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT- Reports of a dramatic increase in polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in human breast milk focused attention on brominated flame-retardants (BFRs). Although the literature is dominated by reports on PBDEs, global demand for tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is much greater, accounting for over one-half of the major BFRs produced (TBBPA, PBDEs and HBCD). TBBPA is used primarily as a reactive flame retardant in printed circuit boards, and therefore less likely to leach from products. However, TBBPA has been detected in various environmental matrices. The earliest reports on TBBPA in the environment were from sites in close proximity to where flame-retardants are produced. In 1979 TBBPA was reported in Arkansas in sediment, soil, on air particulate and in human hair. TBBPA was detected in river sediment near the center of Osaka as early as 1983. Since then, TBBPA has been detected in sewage sludge in Sweden and on air particulate from an electronics recycling plant. TBBPA has also been detected in human blood serum. TBBPA has the potential to disrupt thyroid hormone transport due to structural similarity to the thyroid hormone, thyroxine. Yet there are no published reports on levels of TBBPA in the Canadian environment. A method for the determination of TBBPA in sediment was developed using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) and silica/sulfuric acid column clean-up. TBBPA is a phenolic, and this functionality can be exploited in the extraction and separation of TBBPA from complex environmental matrices. Early derivatization prevents losses due to adsorption to glassware as well as improves chromatographic response. Recoveries from spiked sediment samples were greater than 90%. ASE is a rapid extraction method that uses less solvent than comparable Soxhlet extraction. Development of reliable, sensitive methods are required to address the lack of information on levels of TBBPA in the environment.

Key words: flame-retardant, TBBPA, sediment, ASE